Media Watch

If you're near one of those fancy television machines I hear tell about, tune into the ABC affiliate here in Kansas City for a sneak peek at the Kansas City Irish Fest St. Patrick's Day parade float. Myself and whoever else is stupid enough to show up for this will be pretending to work on it in an unheated warehouse between 7:00 and 9:00 this morning on live TV. Just like real life.

UPDATE

Well, I got that wrong, as you figured out if you tried to watch us. We were not on Channel 9, the local ABC station but on Channel 29, their sister station which I think is an affiliate of one of those pretend networks like the WB or the PDQ or Fox. But anyway, for the six people including my mother who were watching, there we were. Ed Scanlon overcame his terrible shyness long enough to give a nice interview and plug for the Fest. The lovely Keli Wenzel and the lovely Sarah Walsh threw green paint around like pros. Keli gave a nice interview about the fest and the parade. The lovely Erin Kiekbusch discussed the upcoming parade. Me, my screen credit will read "guy on ladder with drill."

It's all so ridiculously phony. Do they really think anybody believes this? It's 7:30 on a Thursday morning. We're working on our float, of course. What else would we be doing? Sleeping? Going to actual jobs? Oh, and yes, the girls always dress this nice to paint 2x4s. Oh, and the live music? The fiddler and guitarist playing there on the folding chairs? Yeah, we always have them too, for these early weekday work sessions. Keeps us in the mood, sure an' begorrah.

I remember once years ago we did one of these TV morning show things a few days before St. Pat's. That year we were building the Celtic Fringe float in Ed Scanlon's driveway. And the news crew came and filmed us pretending to work on it IN THE DARK. And we had to chip ice off it before we did. So maybe today's play date was marginally more believable.

But there you go. For the greater glory of the Kansas City Irish Fest, the integrity of the Fourth Estate and blessed St. Patrick himself, a handful of festival staff did our duty, pretended to put together some pieces of float, then took them apart again. Reality television at its finest.